The Southern African Savannas Network: sustainable management of natural resources (soil, water, flora and fauna)

Coordinator: J. Woods (UK); Regional Coordinator: H.K. Watson (South Africa)

SAS Network website http://www.savannas.net/index1.htm

In southern Africa, the savannas continue to be a resource-base for a large and growing human population, supporting numerous socio-economic activities, as well as being a habitat for the extremely diverse and unique fauna found in these areas. Human related activities have increasingly expanded agriculture and livestock production to cover even the most fragile types of the savannas such as found the Kalahari ecosystems.

The Southern African Savannas Network is synthesising four years research and data gathering work by southern African and European scientists on the ‘sustainable use of southern African savannas: sustainable management of natural resources (soil, water, flora & fauna), a synthesis study of human impacts and enhancement of economic and social benefits.’ The synthesis is founded on a detailed on-the-ground assessment of the biophysical resources that underpin the sustainable use of southern African savannas and an integration of these results from site-specific to national, regional and global perspectives.

The Southern African Savannas Network comprises 17 scientists based in Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Since 1999, the network has been supported by EU-INCO and UNEP, then by UNESCO, ICSU and the NAS. At mid-2005 it is seeking support to continue its studies and to promote outreach activities.

Through the research highlighted here, the work of the existing southern African savannas network has been extended to assess the current status of savannas across the entire southern African region, primarily by using a spatially explicit methodology. A GIS database was developed to analyse the relationship between land use patterns and the hydrological, soils and vegetation resources of the savannas. Currently the most serious distortions to the sustainable use of resources occur in the management and exploitation of water and wildlife resources. These distortions arise as a result of national boundaries and policy differences between countries. The demographic impact of HIV is certain to play a crucial, but as yet un-quantified, role in the near to medium term development of southern Africa’s savannas.

The Network focuses on savannas because in addition to being the largest biome in Southern Africa, they are generally extremely fragile but are a home to most of the region's poverty stricken population. The use of basic savanna resources (soil, water, flora and fauna) under the prevailing land use types (traditional, commercial and wildlife/protected areas) in study areas where the full range of these resources and types are represented, was investigated. Study areas were selected in Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe because these countries present the greatest differences in the region in factors that potentially influence the sustainability of the savannas.

The Network has identified numerous unsustainable practices and policies as well as more sustainable alternatives. These findings have been presented:-

• at a workshop meeting of all the Network partners in each of the four countries to which representatives of key stakeholders were invited;
• at the following conferences:
  Africa Renais-Science, March 2002, Durban;
  Natural Forests and Woodlands, May 2002, Kruger National Park;
  Tropical Savannas & Seasonally Dry Forests - Ecology, Environment & Development , September 2003, Edinburgh;
  Commonwealth Head of States, November 2003, Abuja;
• in six articles in scientific journals, an article in a conference proceedings, a book chapter, a SCOPE report and a special issue of the South African Geographical Journal ;
• at an SEI/SIDA ‘Sustainable Livelihoods Workshop’ held at Imperial College London, 29^th and 30^th April, 2005.

In attempting to develop mechanisms to implement alternative practices and policies a number of knowledge gaps have been recognized. Most of these relate to the Network’s natural environment focus. Links have been established with the Southern Africa Vulnerability Initiative (SAVI) in Maputo in June 2003. SAVI aims to incorporate multiple stressors into a framework that can be used to assess how and why different regions and sectors of society in southern Africa are vulnerable to global environmental change. SAVI’s work on the social, economic and political environment stressors such as HIV/AIDS, conflict, globalization, urbanization, institutional changes, etc will greatly assist in filling knowledge gaps in our work.
The Network continues to play an important role in capacity building in the region.

In 2005, project leaders are finalising a full draft of a SASN/SAVI book titled ‘Sustainable or vulnerable? The resource exploitation and policies affecting Southern African savannas’ (eds. Watson, Eriksen and Woods) and editing a special issue of the Conservation & Society Journal. The University of KwaZulu Natal Press has expressed an interest in publishing a low cost version of the book in the southern African region and an authors meeting was held in London on the 26^th April 2005 to review progress with individual chapters. Other published results of the SAS Network include:

‘The Sustainability of Botswana’s Savannas.’ Special Edition of The South African Geographical Journal 85(1). Special Edition eds. Woods, J. and Watson, H. (2003):

• Els, A.J.E. and Rowntree, K.M. water resources in Botswana with particular reference to the savanna regions.
• Kgathi, D.L., Sekhwela, M.B.M. and Hamandawana, H. Sustainability of commercial agriculture in Chobe District, Botswana.
• Kgathi, D.L., Sekhwela, M.B.M. and Hamandawana, H. Sustainability of the commercial exploitation and management of the Chobe forest reserves in Botswana.
• Fraser, G.C.G. and Mabusela, L. Sustainability of traditional agriculture in the southern african savannas of Botswana.
• Watson, H. and Dlamini, T.B., T. An assessment of the sustainability of the utilisation of savanna products in Botswana.
• Hachileka, E. Sustainability of wildlife utilization in the Chobe District, Botswana.
• Beebe, M. Community development trust(s) in Botswana: institutional arrangements and social policy for savanna sustainability.
• Woods, J. and Sekhwela, M.B.M. the vegetation of Botswana’s savannas.

 

Fraser, G.C.G. and Mabusela, L., 2000. Problems faced by traditional agriculture in southern Africa: Case studies in Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Poster paper presented at the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa Conference, Sun City.

Fraser, G.C.G. and Mabusela, L., 2001. The sustainability of traditional agriculture in the southern African savannas.

Watson, H.K., Magasela, B.B. and N.V.Madonsela, 2002: Does Increasing reliance on Diminishing Woodlands in KwaZulu-Natal’s Hlabisa District Pose a Threat to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park? In Proceedings of Natural Forests and Savanna Woodlands Symposium III: Multiple Use Management – Policy Refinements and Scientific Progress, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Kruger National Park, 6-9 May.

Watson, H.K., 2002: The Sustainability of Southern Africa’s Savanna Resources, In Baijnath, H., Mokhele, K and Y Singh, (eds.) 2002: A Rebirth of Science in Africa: A Vision for Life and Environmental Sciences, UMDAS Press, Pretoria.

B. B. Magasela, 2002: An Assessment of the Direct Use Value of Woodland Resources in the Hlabisa District of KwaZulu-Natal, Masters of Arts, University of Durban-Westville.

I Banoo, 2002: “Review of Current Policies which impact on the Sustainability of Natural Woodlands in African Rural Areas in South Africa”, Masters of Arts, University of Durban-Westville.

M N Qwathekana, 2002: "Assessment of the Efficacy of Indicators of the Environmental Sustainability of Areas Transferred Under the Land Reform Programme", Masters of Arts, University of Durban-Westville.

A H Ismail, 2002: "Predicting the Distribution of Ocatea bullata and Curtisia dentata Using Bayesian Methods in Geographic Information Systems", Masters of Science, University of Durban-Westville.

Hachileka, E. (2000) Wildlife utilization in Chobe, Botswana, Paper presented at the Workshop on Sustainable Use of Dryland Ecosystems at the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Biodiversity Forum, Mombasa, Kenya, 21- 23 February 2000.

Almendros G., Giampaolo S, Pardo M. T. (2000). Laboratory appraisal of carbon sequestration and nutrient availability after different organic matter inputs in virgin and cultivated Zimbabwean soils. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 32,877-894.

Almendros G., Kgathi D., Sekhwela M., Zancada M.C., Tinoco P., Pardo M.T. (2001). Humus formations from southern African savannas. Biogeochemical features in Northern Botswana soils. Eur. J. Soil Sci. (in press).

Almendros G., Zancada M.C., Tinoco P., López-Fando C., Pardo M.T. (2000). Effects of clearing on the organic matter turnover in Vertisols from Northern Botswana savannas. Extended Abstracts 11th International Soil Conservation Organization Conference (ISCO 2000). Buenos Aires (The Argentine) October 22-27, 2000.

Pardo M.T., López-Fando C. (2001) Soil carbon management in southern African soils. Possibilities for carbon sequestration. (prepared for SCOPE/UNEP Project).

Almendros G., Kgathi D., Sekhwela M., Zancada M.C., Pardo M.T. Assessment of resilience based on the organic matter forms in soils subjected to traditional agricultural practices in Pandamatenga (Northern Botswana) (2003).

Woods, J. and Watson, H. (eds): The Status of Southern African Savannas. Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP. The New UNEP Global Participative Observing and Assessment Strategy:1-121, 2001.

Last up-dated 24 May 2005